Apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage

ABSTRACT

An assemblage is disclosed for storing and displaying articles of men&#39;s and women&#39;s apparel and accessory. The assemblage has an elongated support member and a plurality hanger members secured to it. The support member can be rigid or flexible enabling it to be folded or rolled up when not in use.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to an assemblage useful for storing or displaying articles of men's and women's apparel and accessories. More particularly, the assemblage of this invention can be readily moved from place to place as desired or required whether it is used to store or to display the apparel and accessories.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Men's and women's apparel and accessory articles such as ties, belts, scarves, pocketbooks, handbags, purses, and the like are typically cumbersome to store or display as they generally take up a lot of space that can be otherwise put to better use. For example, in the home ties and belts can usually be stored on racks that are normally secured to the back of a closet door or to a closet wall. Although these racks serve their purpose, if one wants to relocate them, one must detach them and then re-secure them in the desired, new location.

[0003] Scarves are typically folded and stored in a bureau, chest, amoire, or the like in a home where they take up valuable space that could be used for the storage of other articles.

[0004] Women's pocketbooks, handbags and purses are bulky articles and present a particularly troublesome storage problem in the home since most women have several of these accessory articles to wear with different dress ensembles. It is not unusual for these articles to be stored haphazardly on a closet shelf or on the floor in the corner of a closet or room. When one of these articles is to be selected for wear, they must be rummaged through until the desired pocketbook, handbag or purse is found.

[0005] In commercial clothing outlets, both men's and women's belts are generally displayed on crowded racks while ties, after being meticulously folded, are typically displayed on a table where they take up valuable space. Women's scarves are usually found displayed on counter top display stands or folded on shelves within the counter, again taking up valuable space. Women's pocketbooks and handbags are generally displayed on bulky, upright display stands or on bulky shelves whereas purses, depending upon their size, are generally displayed on shelves in a display counter.

[0006] These commercial forms of displaying articles of men's and women's apparel and accessories are generally fixed and can not be readily re-located or consume valuable space that could be put to other uses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage of this invention overcomes the space and mobility shortcomings discussed above in both the home and in commercial clothing outlets. The apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage of this invention generally comprises: an elongated support member having a top, a bottom and at least two opposed sides; a plurality of hanger members secured to said opposed sides, said hanger members being vertically spaced from one another along the length of said support member; and, means to suspend said support member from its top.

[0008] In one embodiment, the elongated support member is provided from a flexible material such as leather, a heavy duty plastic, a heavy duty textile such as canvas, and the like, so that the support member can be readily folded or rolled up and stored when not in use.

[0009] In another embodiment, the cross-section configuration of the elongated support member can be square or rectangular thereby providing four sides to which the hanger members can be secured.

[0010] In a further embodiment, the cross-section configuration of the elongated support member can be circular in the form of a tube or cylinder enabling the hanger members to be secured about the circumferential surface of the support member.

[0011] The hanger members can be secured to the elongated support member by any conventional means such as gluing, using screws or rivets, and the like or, when the support member is a flexible material, stitching and sewing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0012] The apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage of the invention will become more apparent from the ensuing description when considered together with the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numerals denote like parts and wherein:

[0013]FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the invention;

[0014]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; and.

[0015]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE DRAWING

[0016] As illustrated in FIG. 1, one embodiment of the apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage of the invention is provided on the form of a flexible, elongated support member 10 having a top 11, a bottom 12 and opposed sides 13 and 14. Secured to each of the opposed sides is a plurality of hanger members 15 vertically spaced apart from one another. Preferably, the hanger members on one side of the support member are also off-set from the hanger members on the other side of the support member as shown in FIG. 1; i.e., they are not back to back. A conventional hook means 16 can be secured to the top of the support member so that it can be hung, for example, from a clothes pole inside a closet or from the bar of an upright commercial display stand.

[0017] In this embodiment, the elongated support member can be of any suitable is flexible material such as leather, heavy duty plastic, heavy duty textile such as canvas, and the like, and can be secured to the flexible support member by any suitable means such as by gluing, riveting, sewing and stitching, and the like.

[0018] Any suitable material such as wood, light weight metal such as aluminum, heavy gauge wire, plastic, and the like can be employed to form the hanger members of the assemblage. These hanger members typically have a long leg 15 a and a short leg 15 b. The short leg can be provided in the form of a U-shaped 17. L-shaped 18, or any other desired configuration, depending upon the article of apparel or the accessory to be placed on it.

[0019] In FIG. 2, another embodiment of the assemblage of the invention is shown. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the elongated support member is a rigid element that can be solid or hollow and has a square or rectangular cross-section to form four adjacent walls 19, 20, 21 and 22 with the hanger members secured to each wall in a vertically spaced arrangement. Preferably, the hanger members secured to one wall are off-set from the hanger members secured to an adjacent wall.

[0020] The elongated support member in this embodiment can be provided from any suitable rigid material such as wood, light metal such as aluminum, plastic, and the like and the hanger members can be secured to its walls by any conventional means such as glue, screws rivets, and the like.

[0021]FIG. 3 illustrates a further embodiment of the assemblage of the invention wherein the elongated support member is a rigid solid or tubular element having a circular cross-section to provide a continuous circumferential wall surface 23. The hanger members in this embodiment are secured to the support member so that they are both vertically and circumferentially spaced from one anther. Preferably, adjacent hanger members are also off-set from one another as shown in FIG. 3.

[0022] Conventional means such as glue, rivets, screws, and the like can be readily used to secure the hanger members to the support member.

[0023] Although the invention has been described in some detail and with particularity, it will be appreciated by those skilled in this art that changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. 

What is claimed:
 1. An apparel and accessory storage and display assemblage comprising: (a) an elongated flexible support member having a top, a bottom and at least two opposed sides: (b) a plurality of hanger members secured to said opposed sides, said hanger members being vertically spaced from one another along the length of said support member: and, (c) means to suspend said support member from its top.
 2. The assemblage of claim 1 wherein the hanger members on one side of said support member are off-set from the other side of said support member.
 3. The assemblage of claim 1 wherein said support member is a member selected from the group consisting of leather, heavy duty plastic and heavy duty textile.
 4. The assemblage of claim 1 wherein said support member is rigid and has a square or rectangular cross-section forming four adjacent walls.
 5. The assemblage of claim 4 wherein said hanger members are secured to said walls in a vertically spaced alignment.
 6. The assemblage of claim 5 wherein the hanger members secured to one wall are off-set from the hanger members secured to an adjacent wall.
 7. The assemblage of claim 1 wherein said support member is rigid and has a circular cross-section so that said support member has a continuous circumferential wall surface.
 8. The assemblage of claim 7 wherein said hanger members are secured to said wall surface vertically spaced from one another and off-set from adjacent hanger members. 